37 Must-Read Posts for Tax Savings

In a quest to understand taxes to the best of my ability, I’ve compiled a list of the best posts to help you maximize refunds and minimize stress in the tax season!

To do this, I looked at bookmarked posts, asked friends on Yakezie, and scoured even more of my favorite blogs and Google. The result – 37 awesome posts (plus this one, which clocks in at ~1,900 words).

Posts cover a wide range of topics. Not all of them are “how-to” in nature, but they’re all helpful in making tax decisions both when you’re filing your return this season and making decisions that have tax implications for 2012’s return.

Before you start reading, here’s the usual disclaimer: I’m not a a tax professional (and neither are most of the bloggers here), and you should seek professional advice before making any tax-related decisions. Also, some posts written in previous tax years and for previous tax years, so make sure to confirm that the information in these posts is still accurate.

Preparing to Do Your Tax Return

Helpful for: Saving time and stress later from dealing with taxes. It helps a great deal (and I’m really learning this now) to keep track of all your tax-related receipts and forms throughout the year rather than trying to gather them up at the end. Eric provides a great guide for making sure nothing slips through the cracks.

Doing Your Own Taxes

Helpful for: Determining if it makes sense to do your own taxes. Eric encourages using having an ongoing relationship with a professional to get your taxes done, and he discourages using storefront tax services.

Helpful for: Convincing yourself that you can do your own taxes. Sam suggests that in most cases, you should be able to handle your return on your own unless your return is more complicated (i.e. multiple real estate properties, investments, businesses, etc.) He does his own in 2-3 hours each year using software, so no need to make it too complicated or time consuming.

Tax Software

Helpful for: Cheaply filing your personal tax return. I’ve always had a fairly simple return, and I’ve always filed it using Tax Slayer, which I’ve found to be cheaper than Turbo Tax yet do just as good as a job (I compared them side by side last year, and each calculated the identical refund). If you haven’t used online tax software, it doesn’t hurt to give it a shot since it’s free to try (it just costs money to file), and it’s definitely faster and more accurate than doing taxes by hand.

Helpful for: Evaluating the cost and features of several tax software providers. I haven’t used any of these before myself, but there’s several options from a few of the top brands of software presented.

Hiring Someone to Do Your Taxes

Helpful for: Choosing the right preparer for your tax return. Eric points out that not all options are equal, and you should ask questions like: what qualifications does s/he have? On what basis is s/he paid? Do your research and don’t pick someone at random.

Helpful for: Determining how much it will cost to prepare your taxes with either software, online software, or an in-person service. This post goes into great depth, and includes various prices from across the US.

Helpful for: Demystifying tax brackets. Many people think they pay tax at the same rate on all their income. This post explains how that’s simply not true, and shows how to properly calculate your taxes (just make sure you’re working with the regulations for the right year).

General Deductions

Helpful for: Not forgetting some significant yet harder-to-remember tax deductions. Did you rack up mileage for charitable work? What about your breastfeeding equipment? You may be able to get a tax break on these things, so don’t forget to look into them.

Helpful for: Learning about what can be deducted on your tax return and the rules related to how those deductions can be taken. This post includes some less-common donations other than cash, like stock or physical property

Home Ownership

Helpful for: Considering the mortgage deduction and making a good decision. Since I’m a renter (4-lyf!), this post just talks a bit about the myth of the tax deduction for mortgages. YFS explains that the deduction itself, while it’s great, should never be the sole reason to purchase a house.

Investing

Helpful for: Tax strategy with investments. RB40 talks about selling “losers” at the end of 2011 for the tax benefit. It’s too late to take advantage this year, but mark you calendar before the end of 2012.

Helpful for: A thorough explanation of IRA contributions for 2012. Philip covers many (and maybe all) of the different contributions scenarios. If you’re unclear on what you can contribute, this post will straighten things out.

Helpful for: Negotiating down what you owe to the IRS. If you owe money to the IRS, it’s possible that you can negotiate your way out of paying some of it back. Hunter provides a couple options for doing that.

Tax Statistics

Helpful for: Knowing how much tax is collected, and playing around with graphs. I’ve grown to love DQYDJ for all the cool graphs they make over there. This one is fun, too, as it takes your through a bit of the history of taxes.

Helpful for: Using a Health Savings Account (HSA), which does have tax benefits. HSAs utilize funds not subject to federal tax when they’re deposited into the account, and these funds can then be used to pay for a wide range of qualified medical expenses.

Helpful for: A savvy way to look for tax savings in areas where some deductions are prohibited. My favorite: “You can deduct personal legal fees related to contesting, paying, or claiming a refund on your taxes.”

This post is awesome sauce! Excellent round up of the best tax articles and tips. I’m bookmarking this for use throughout the tax season. Even a tax consultant like me, can learn something new, or become more efficient. Thanks for doing the research!

Wow! Lots of great information! Thanks for saving me the time to gather it all! I have done my own taxes before with Turbo Tax and Taxslayer….like Taxslayer better. Owning my own business, however, I decided to seek advice on all the tax advantages I could. Loved the book, “Lower Your Taxes….BIG TIME!” by Sandy Botkin for that reason. Easy language for the average person to understand. 🙂

Thanks for the wonderful list of resource to tax filling. This information will be of great usage to all of those who wants to file tax returns. Tax returns filling plays an important role in Government revenue and the development of a nation. This gives us full information from the tax returns filing to the last step of filling late and extensions.

Thanks for the wonderful list of resource to tax filling. This information will be of great usage to all of those who wants to file tax returns. Tax returns filling plays an important role in Government revenue and the development of a nation. This gives us full information from the tax returns filing to the last step of filling late and extensions.

Thanks for the wonderful list of resource to tax filling. This information will be of great usage to all of those who wants to file tax returns. Tax returns filling plays an important role in Government revenue and the development of a nation. This gives us full information from the tax returns filing to the last step of filling late and extensions.